First thing we knew, someone hurled a lance just past Ezekiel’s head. He threw up his arms in a warding gesture, and a hundred bright, disembodied swords started spinning and flashing across the top of the stairs. A giant spider jumped out of thin air above our heads, and while we tried to fend off their monstrous fangs, Ezekiel yelled to everyone to back up.

Next thing I knew, the quiver on my back was spilling over with snakes, all coiling and slithering and biting. Which is something I did not need in my psyche. I don’t know which of them bit me – the snakes or the spiders.

It’s a fascinating sensation, to feel your muscles seize up, and your heart seize up, and watch the world fade to grey as your eyes seize up…but again, not a feeling I really needed to add to my memory bank.

The one good thing is they didn’t hit my quiver of magic arrows…and I guess the other good thing is Mikael was standing right behind me, and chose to purify my body before he went after the snakes…so I appreciate that.

Somehow, no one actually listened to Ezekiel. Lydia used her staff to levitate over our trio’s heads: Heiron, Mikael, and me. Either she or Raven threw a fireball.

At some point, Ezekiel dropped the barrier, and he and the paladins charged over the crest of the stairs, while the earth elemental that was still active surged through the wall to join them.

Heiron and I were slower, as we had to hack our way through snakes. When we finally emerged from the stairs, the elemental was tied up in some kind of spider string, and piles of dead drow lay on all sides.

Ezekiel smashed his mace on the ground, and the last of the snakes still clinging to me dropped to the ground. Heiron and Mikael said my bites were still swollen and purple, but while they fussed over me I could finally draw an arrow without getting a handful of snake – so I finally drove back the teleporting spider.

At least one drow was still shouting somewhere, while some things that looked like gargoyles, but based on a drow pattern, and also partly transparent, were swiping at Lydia. I wasn’t sure arrows would work on them (and I was still a little shaken up), so Tressarian and I went to support Master Oaklock in defending Lydia.

Next thing I knew, Lydia’s magic lion was running around, and Clatrial made the spirit-things get out of there just by showing them her shield. Ezekiel and Aliana were chasing drow all over the place, the gargoyles were here and there, and Raven went by in a blur. I think my appendages were still a little numb, so I took the opportunity to sip a healing potion.

Finally, the elemental broke out of the web, and helped Agnar mop up the last of the enemies. We took a moment to search the bodies for anything meaningful. A couple of the drow had spider broaches, and there were a couple lances that glowed strangely…the paladins spent much time turning them over and peering at them and testing the heft. I guess paladins have a thing for lances, but these felt off somehow.

Finally, Ez told us to follow him upstairs, and then spread out to search the upper floors. Naturally this made me nervous, but we hadn’t heard anyone since we finished the battle. Hadn’t heard a sound, except what we were making.

We made a sweep of the upper floors, which were mostly living quarters. A few private suites, and couple barracks or bunk-rooms. Clatriel found some weapons she said were poisoned, and flung them across the room (fortunately without hitting anyone).

The top floor had the most richly furnished quarters, with silver-woven hangings on the walls and embroidered rugs…unfortunately, the patterns on the rugs were such that I didn’t feel clean walking across them. Crystal dishes sat out on the tables, full of various alcohols and mind-altering substances (Mikael took a professional look at them, and declared them “not healthy”).

The bedroom of the high priestress had a couple curious things. One was a rune formed from platinum on top of a table, that glowed both magic and Evil. Some jewelry next to it was safe, though…I’m not sure we ever figured out what it was for.

The other thing was a secret door to a treasure room. But blocking the treasure room was a tiny torture room, and a man pretty much out of his mind. He’s a massive Bakluni man, and Ezekiel and Raven had quite some trouble trying to help him.

First, they tried just talking and healing his minor wounds, but he tried to tackle Ezekiel. They tried showing him the dead high priestess, but he just embraced her – then squashed her head like an egg.

I’m not sure why they thought unchaining him would be a good idea. At least they had Mikael stand by with the rope of entangling in case it got dangerous, but then they just let him run around the apartments shredding the sheets on the bed, cracking open the bureau, ripping the light fixtures off the wall…all while Clatrial and I were supposed to stand by “keep him from running off or getting into trouble”. Maybe Ez overdosed on the gem of seeing again…he did give it to Aliana to help him and Raven search the four invisible chests in the treasure room.

Finally, the big man gobbled up some of the white crystals in the dishes in the anteroom, and passed out cold, before anyone got hurt.

Aliana and Raven came up the stairs to join us (there’s a statue for teleporting to the basement), and the others joined us with the treasure haul: a pile of scrolls and parchments, assorted coins and jewelry, and most fascinating of all: a talisman wrapped up in a square of silk that was printed with strange symbols. The talisman had the rune for “law” printed on it, and Ezekiel said it felt very comfortable in his hand – just “right” somehow. He passed it around, and most of us agreed…except Mikael and Master Oaklock.

Ezekiel spread out the silk to try puzzling out the symbols, but it didn’t make much sense until he set the amulet down on the silk. Then the writing actually swirled and reformed itself in what looked like Elvish letters, but everyone assured me was not Elvish.

Lydia used magic to read it, and we tried to take notes as she read out loud.

[Separate sheet of scribbled notes placed between the pages:]

There are many ways to reach Lolth

Planeshift: step one…(actually none of those words Lydia used made sense, but Ez took furious notes. She also pulled out the necklace we got from the squid-face men and compared it to some of the directions.)

Astral projection: caution! Traveling near the Spider Queen’s lair can leave a traveler “snared.” Something about something sticky??

Finally: you could just walk through the amber pillar/pool on the main floor of the temple, and that makes the wall behind the braziers a portal.

Lydia and Ez agreed any drow would have trouble handling the amulet, so the information on the silk square was essentially encoded against them. I thought most deities wanted followers to find them (I suppose that isn’t true for the introvert deities), but we decided it could be like a test of devotion…or a prank.

Ezekiel got all fired up to face Her (for real this time), but Lydia has already used her Haste spell today. That’s a big part of Ez’s strategy, I guess, so they talked it over and finally decided she could sit on a quiet corner and study for several hours, and be able to cast it again before we let too much more grass grow under our feet (though down here it would probably be moss or fungus).

The rest of us scattered to search the slain – except Heiron, of course, who was making sure nothing snuck up on Lydia so she could focus. (It’s awful; there’s no sound here at all. No breeze moving curtains, no timbers creaking as they age, no insects buzzing – though I guess that’s only appropriate. And we should be grateful to be away from the hair-raising clamor of the city…but it still feels odd.)

Ezekiel busied himself with the big man. Somehow, the stranger revived and found his way downstairs, where he started ripping apart the drow bodies and smashing them against the walls and generally making a mess. Ez had to use a high-tier healing spell before he finally calmed down, and then they sat and talked for a bit. His name’s Kazak, from one of the barbarian tribes, and he came here with a party to “do business” with the drow.. but it ended very badly somehow. Ezekiel and Agnar said he could wait for us down in the tunnel by the riverbank…if all goes well, he’ll be hidden from enemies there, and we can pick him up to see him safely out when we’re done with our business. Or, if we never return, he can try his luck on the boats and avoid the guards on the bridge. It’s dangerous either way, but at least he has options…and he has stopped the maniacal violence, so that’s nice. He still makes my back tingle.

The whole thing makes my spine tingle. Agnar tried to get a rise out of Clatriel, and she didn’t even respond, so you know it’s bad. Ezekiel says he has a plan, though. We’ll see how many times it has to change before we’re done.

Alert: May contain spoilers for the adventure “Descent into the Depths of the Earth”

North of the city lies the Noble Gate. The guards let us through when we showed them the mithril sword token. The road rises to a plateau overlooking the city, where the lights glow and flash with miriad colors in the eternal night…so that, at any other time, or for any other place, one might call it beautiful.

According to our directions, we followed the road north-east (what I suppose, somewhere far above in the sun-graced lands, would be north-east). We dodged a company of drow riding those strange, otherworldly horse-things, but they didn’t even spare us a glance…and we made it safely to the turn-off. We passed the gate of an estate emblazoned with a mace symbol, so that must be the seat of House Despana. No one seemed to notice our passage, and finally the road descended into a narrow ravine.

I don’t know if the original cliffs were cut by hands or natural forces, but now they are carved with such scenes as I could not describe, even if I wanted to. Such demonic faces, and such exhibitions of hatred, cruelty, and selfishness I have never seen, even in the Temple of Elemental Evil…and now I’m working very hard to repress them. As of now, if Ezekiel wants to kill the Spider Queen for all time, I’ll back him all the way.

Finally, the walls opened up to either side, and I could raise my head to see the dark plain we’d entered, and the pagoda of black stone directly before us. A red glow bathed the scene, but there were no lamps or stars or even fungi that seemed to be the source. Like the Temple, perhaps it was simply magic.

We paused a decent distance from the structure, and Mikael summoned his two earth elementals. I figure it was about noon, in places where that means anything, when we approached the temple of Lolth.

The building consists of five layers, stacked on top of each other. It’s possible each layer is a floor inside, though there were no lit windows to tell for sure. Semi-circular steps lead up to the front entrance, and the steps are carved to resemble webs…as though one were entering a snarl of spider nests.

In the entry hall, the floor and support pillars are all black and white, I suppose some kind of stone, and gauzy hangings drape the gaps between the pillars…shifting eerily in the draft when we walk by. We avoided stepping on the runes inlaid on the floor, and stayed away from the purple candles that stay lit, it seems, forever…like the drow priestesses had in the giant hold. Ezekiel has not found it necessary to explain their function.

Ezekiel uncovered his shield, and its cold, white light seemed almost homey, it’s been so long since we could use them. He and Aliana picked their way into the room first, checking for anything suspicious. We followed at a safe distance (much to Clatriel’s annoyance), but nothing jumped us.

Ezekiel took a moment to examine the two altars – one on each side of a broad corridor, leading straight onward. Each held a single gold dish; in a friendlier church, I might think they were for donations to the poor.

Advancing down the corridor, we saw something that made our spines shiver and our muscles tense. A huge spider – almost centaur size – sat on a glowing, amber-colored circle…almost like a pool. Instead of a spider head, it had a head like a female drow, and the eyes watched us as we approached. As we got closer, the circle rose up from the floor and revealed itself to be the top of some kind of pillar – all translucent and honey-colored, with the spider sitting atop, leering at us. By the time we stepped into the room, the pillar was halfway to the ceiling.

Ezekiel and Aliana took Agnar with them to scout the room, and Ez obviously assumed the spider was an illusion, given how casual he was about it. On the opposite wall was a mural, flanked by smoking braziers, and hallways opened up to either side.

Raven, Heiron, and I went to check the west hallway. At the first door we opened, drow immediately started shooting crossbow bolts at us. For untouchable foreigners in the sanctum of their goddess, I suppose it’s no less than we could expect of them. Mikael heard the noise and came with one of his elementals, though from the clamor it seems Ezekiel and the others found more people to fight in the eastern corridor.

While Ezekiel had hinted at wanting to use his official position to try a diplomatic approach with Lolth, now we were fighting…straight out, white and black, kill or be killed. After so much compromise, and subterfuge, and feigned cordiallity, it felt so freeing, so wholesome.

Mikael summoned insects, and a thousand tiny spiders swarmed one of the drow. Lydia shot bolts of light from her staff. When the drow were finally dead, I recovered what arrows I could.

Some of us guarded the exits for anyone who might have heard the commotion, and the rest of us quickly searched the bodies. The drow were all warriors, it seems – with chainmail and sharp weapons. The giant spider still sat atop its pillar, laughing at us and making rude gestures, but it hadn’t interfered in the battle at all…so it seems Ezekiel’s instinct was correct: that an authority figure of this importance would not be sitting, as it were, in the foyer of her lair.

Heiron forced open the second door in the west hallway, and we discovered an assortment of prisoners – two humans, a dwarf, and eight or so humanoids of different kinds. Ezekiel looked them over, and left them on their own (not feeling a responsibility to see them to safety).

Meanwhile, Mikael and I secured a door on the far side of the room where we fought drow. It looks to be some kind of conference room, but they didn’t leave curious-looking papers about.

When we met back up in the main foyer, after securing the rest of this floor, Ezekiel said he was sure the mural wall, between the braziers, had some kind of significance. The smoke from the braziers was behaving strangely – not bouncing off the wall, but almost seeming to drift through it…as though the wall were an illusion. Usually, if something is an illusion, you can look at it different ways until your brain catches an inconsistency, and then it clicks – and it’s obviously not really there. That didn’t happen with the wall.

It looks like the paint is standing out from the wall, like you should be able to trace the spiderwebs with your finger, stretching into a night sky with faint stars, and feel the texture of their intertwining. But you can’t. After much buffing and preparation, Ezekiel and Raven both investigated the wall…and found it nothing more than flat plaster. It must be a – an optical illusion, do they call it? Where the street vendors paint faces that seem to watch you as you walk by? Anyway, Tressarian said the wall was magical somehow (but not Evil), but we couldn’t figure out what to do with it.

That left two possibilities: upstairs, or downstairs. We chose down.

I mentioned the glow in the air that surrounded us when we first entered this dark valley. It continued into the temple (mitigated, of course, by our shields of continual light), but when we headed down the staircase, the air seemed to turn from red to grey. The walls were decorated with frescoes – this time of spiders eating people, and demons dragging people to unspeakable fates. I…I cannot describe the feeling of walking down those stairs. After all we’d seen, all we’d been through, there was something else there, too. A feeling of something terrible, right around the corner. I always think of the undead elf in the Temple of Elemental Evil…every time I get this sensation of otherworldly horror, that’s the memory that washes over me.

Large-ish spiders jumped out of the shadows on the ceiling to attack us, but frankly they felt more like a distraction from what was actually ahead. Finally, we reached the bottom, and picked one of two directions down the corridor.

The hall ended in what I could best describe as an anteroom…two large, silver cages stood against one wall, flanking a stone altar, inlaid with ivory and silver. It traced designs of webs, and skeletons…mostly human or demihuman, I think, which makes sense when the hollow carved along the top of the altar was roughly man-shaped. You can make arguments for sacrificing animals to your god or goddess (maybe not good ones, but arguments) – but Evil never stops there. They always hunger for perversion, for murdering humans and human-likes.

Speaking of which, one of the cages held a victim. A male drow in scyvvies sat with a glazed expression. When Raven unlocked the cage and Ezekiel gave him minor healing, he didn’t react – just kept staring, like he was poisoned or drugged. Ez said there was a puncture wound on his neck.

The only way to continue this path was through a hallway choked with spiderwebs. Mikael told his elementals to clear it, and we followed at a safe distance. Smart? Stupid? Lucky? Who knows.

We entered a large, circular room – fouled with old blood, and “cluttered” with spider silk. Facing us stood a huge, black spider – just like the one upstairs – with a drow face, leering and snarling at us.

We charged – Raven, with a blur of movement; Ezekiel, while chugging a potion; Aliana, with a running flip off the elemental’s back, like a rainbow made of pure silver. The spider-lady clapped her hands, and a large, armored creature appeared…Raven called it a “humanoid armadillo,” but I’m not entirely sure what that means.

Lydia chanted. Clatriel bolted up the middle of the group, sword directed at the demoness’ heart (she’s had a rough couple weeks, and I think she was excited to finally have something to fight again). The summoned back-up beast didn’t seem to notice normal arrows, but it sure bellowed for magic arrows and Agnar’s magic sword.

The whole thing was over in a matter of seconds. As Aliana lopped off the spider-lady’s head, the whole figure dropped to the ground and vanished like snow on a bright, spring day (except snow doesn’t usually smell like an outhouse burning down). Where she had stood, sat a platinum “egg,” probably about the size of Heiron’s two hands.

While Ezekiel examined the egg, he gave the gem of seeing to Master Oaklock (on the rare chance he might need it) and told him to find any secret doors. Heiron and I headed out to search the other end of the hallway, since Lydia told us our reactions and speed were enhanced for a brief time.

The hallway circled around to a bank of cells, some of which housed undead and were not properly locked. They were faster than zombies, but I guess that’s not saying much; and I don’t think they were ghouls, since they didn’t paralyze me when they clawed at me. Whatever they were, they certainly seemed to move in slow motion compared to the rest of us – so I backed out of melee range and held them off with arrows. By that time, Mikael had arrived with his elementals, and we finished them off together.

Master Oaklock had found a secret door from the circular room to the cells, but it only opened one way. We released some actual prisoners – mostly humans, and a kua’toa or two – and Ezekiel healed their minor wounds.

It’s strange; a prison shouldn’t be a place one feels comfortable in, but anywhere seems better than that disgusting circular room, with the mysterious blood stains, and the man-shaped altar just outside the entrance. Perhaps it was the release that “something finally happened,” perhaps it was actually the avatar emanating Evil, but the temple felt much less “tense.” Perhaps we were just coasting on the adrehneline of successfully killing something…perhaps that’s something we’ll never completely out-grow.

Master Oaklock showed us a secret door that led us down a much more rough-hewn tunnel until it reached the shore of a subterranean river, in a dark cavern. Two galleys waited at the shore, apparently manned by undead rowers…but Ezekiel put a stop to that quick enough. Lydia said the water looked the same as that of the Pitchy Flow, under the bridge we crossed at the border of the city. I wouldn’t venture an opinion, since we couldn’t see the other water as close, and the lighting situations are very different, but it could line up.

With the downstairs thoroughly explored, we headed up the stairs back to the main floor…and found that the rest of the temple attendants had noticed us.

[to be continued]

Find the previous entry here.

Alert: May contain spoilers for the adventure “Descent Into the Depths of the Earth”

Ezekiel sat for some time in his room, seeking answers straight from his boss.

[A sheet of notes in Ezekiel’s handwriting:]

• Should we swear to slaughter the priesthood of Lolth?
• Should we swear to bring the gems to Alserv?
• Can I call on Mike with Gate and get support for the battle? [Note: he doesn’t mean Mikael]
• Should we turn over the scroll to the sage?
• Is a 12,000 gold piece budget high enough for the scroll?
• Should we spend whatever it takes?
• Will Lolth negotiate on terms acceptable to Lawful Good?
• Is my ultimatum for her appropriate?
• Are there secret exits from the Thane?
• Can we defeat the priesthood and Lolth in one day?
• Should we save the drow slavegirl? [Note in Elwyn’s writing: Ez was worried about the half-drow working for the squid-man sage, but turns out she’s an independent contractor, not a slave. So I guess she can look after herself.]
• Access EEG shrine? [Should we? Can we?]

**

Ezekiel seemed perturbed when he rejoined us. He says the answers were not all straightforward, but what was clear is this: he and Aliana should swear to “bring the gems to Alserv” (had some discussion on what exactly those particular words could mean), and we should get the scroll for the sage. So at least that firms up our plans for the afternoon.

As far as wiping out the priesthood, that sounds about as difficult as our previous temple clearings…there’s always a handfull that run away through a back door in the chaos, and either show up at the next battle or take something important with them, or who knows what. Ez thinks we’ll have to do something with the Elder Elemental shrine at some point, but the details are not yet forthcoming.

Raven pointed out we might be able to fence some of the ropes of entangling we got off the drow, so our auction budget is a little higher than what our cash reserves can afford.

****

Wow, so much useful information! But let’s keep everything in order…

We went to the auction as planned, and no one challenged us at the border (the street was clogged with enough other people, these two ghettos probably see a lot of traffic).

The Choral Cafe looks pretty tavernish, and there were a handful of other people there for the auction (including some drow and gnomes, plus a bull-headed man that I’m on the fence about whether we call them people. Lydia says yes, Clatriel says no). In the corner we spotted the humans we think Master Pembreg warned us about (did ge warn them if us, I wonder? Only for a price…) Ezekiel casually scanned the room, and said there was nobody he would trust with an item of such potential danger.

I have not been to many auctions, so it was interesting in that regard. Master Pembreg sold a painting that I gather was of a male drow socialite, so it’s appropriateness is totally up in the air (they carried it away wrapped in cloth, so I never actually saw it). I think the minotaur bought an ivory lizard, and some other things came and went, but no one wanted the kua’toan incense (I felt almost bad for them).

Finally, Master Pembreg mentioned the scroll, and we watched everybody else put in bids until the gnome clearly got out-priced, and started just enjoying the show with his drink.

Ezekiel started bidding then. The human woman obviously wanted this scroll badly…she’s the one who kept switching the price to higher denominations. Once in a while, Ezekiel glanced at Aliana and Raven to make sure his math was right, but every time we were still under budget, so he kept inching over the woman.

At last we must have hit her budget, because she couldn’t top us…just glare. She gave a look to her two male underlings (I guess they were all clerics? But I really couldn’t tell to look at them) and they slipped out the door, quite ominously.

The auction wrapped up, and everybody came forward to pay what they had promised, and collect what they owned. Ezekiel took the scroll, and we started back to the inn.

But nothing is ever easy. We got about as far as the big square where several ghettos feed into one another, when this drow woman started screaming that Ezekiel had insulted Lolth. (I mean, he has, but we’ve tried to keep it to private conversations.)

Ezekiel handed Raven the scroll behind his back, while assuring her he had done no such thing, in his best cleric voice.

Raven slipped to the back of the party, then into the crowd milling along a nearby wall. I lost sight of him quickly, partly because I was trying to follow his example…but by then a patrol had come up and stood to block us from moving. I may be small, but I haven’t practiced how to not stick out in a crowd.

Meanwhile, Ezekiel was behaving strangely. He insisted that the lady should know he’d never do such a thing (whatever it was), and she could depend on him as her best friend to tell the truth. I glanced at Aliana, but I guess Fetafencer is like Tressarian and he can’t dispel magic while he’s in a sheath.

The lady couldn’t even keep her story straight. First she said Ez had insulted Lolth (not “our mother of the legs”?); then she demanded he give her the paper of nasty things he wrote about Lolth (Ezekiel pulled out his journal, but insisted it was writing to do with quite different things. What nasty things was she thinking, like “Lolth loves kittens and flowers and adopting orphans”?). Then she told him to give back the paper he stole from Lolth, which is changing the story so much surely even the patrol noticed.

Mikael picked up a stone from the road (I saw him bend over because he’s so tall, but I don’t think anyone else did), and then held out a little statue of Lolth, saying Ezekiel was actually a big fan, and he even had Lolth memorabilia in his backpack (I think it was modeled after the big statue in the square). Either Mikael was really persuasive, or the patrol was getting tired of the whole incident, but they gave us an inspection (making us as uncomfortable as possible, of course, especially Master Oaklock) until even the lady had to admit we didn’t seem to have anything like what she was describing on our persons.

They told us each to move along, and once we were far enough down the road (in the opposite direction to the lady), Mikael smacked Ezekiel’s hand and Aliana ducked us into a quiet alleyway where she could draw Fetafencer and cast dispel on Ezekiel.

The moment she did, Ezekiel started spluttering about how that lady wasn’t *really* his best friend, and he felt all gross inside. Agnar muttered a comment to me that I thought was rather witty, but I’m glad only Heiron and I heard it. Anyway, we finally made it back to the inn – maybe a little concerned about Raven when he wasn’t there, but we knew we couldn’t find him even if we tried.

All was well when he joined us not too long afterward…with some very interesting news. He headed straight to the house of the sage Oolachrithon (though an old, blue-skinned lady tried to accost him on the way), and once outside his house, decided to pause and look over the scroll quick before handing it over. Sounds like we all had hoped to copy it in some way before selling it, but things didn’t quite work out that way. Fortunately, Raven has a keen memory, so here is the gist that he got from the scroll.

Long ago, the Earth Mother destroyed the Elder Elemental God, shattering him into fragments that rained down on the earth. These fragments tainted their surroundings, forming “places of power” like the ones we raided in the lands of the giants. (This all being interpreted from poetic language that Raven could only half-read. Good thing the scroll was written in several languages, one of them Flan, which Raven apparently has a smattering of.)

The bad news is that Beori didn’t 100% destroy the EEG, so it could be possible to break the seals on his side-dimensional prison and unleash him on the world (with all the horrific chaos that would bring).

Mysteriously enough, the ritual seems to require four “elemental keys” placed around another stone. If the Alserv are planning to do a ritual of this kind, we can only assume they have the worst intentions…even if their worship of the EEG is mostly a political move.

Raven took a moment longer to parse through another section, and discovered something of the utmost importance. If the stone at the center of the ritual, among the elemental keys, is dedicated to the EEG, then the prison will shatter and whatever vestiges of him remain will be unleashed on the world. But if the stone at the center if dedicated to Beori, then the cracks of the prison will be reforged, as it were, and the prisoner locked in forever.

Importantly, the “last key placed” will cost the soul of the creature placing it. Raven says he’s not sure about that part, that it was all euphemism and fragments of poetry and idiom, which he’s really not familiar with in Flan (and the other scroll languages were even worse). But it makes sense to me this is why no Good forces have gone all the way and completed the Earth Mother’s work (that and a lack of “elemental keys,” perhaps).

Anyway, it’s becoming clear why Ezekiel was told to go ahead and acquire the gems. We could be at a turning point in the history of the world. I feel…like a glass dish balanced on the edge of a table. Which way will the breeze blow?

When he had gotten everything he could from the scroll, Raven went in and sold it to the sage, as we had discussed. He says the sage even paid extra to hear about the human party who were so desperate to get their hands on it. The money doesn’t quite cover what we spent at the auction (Father said auctions and games of chance were dangerous things; they carry you away with the moment), but it is a nice cushion. And if we all get eaten by unfathomable evil in the near future, we won’t need money anyway! (Clatriel said that’s not funny.)

**

Ezekiel and Mikael secreted themselves in one of the rooms with the paving stone, to try and make a consecrated object to Beori. It’s good we have Ez with us, as he can kind of liaison across deities. Wonder what Yeti is up to these days…

Raven went out to do some “shopping.” He didn’t invite any of us to come…probably because he knows he’s faster than most of the threats around here, and if one of us was there cringing and hiding our eyes, it wouldn’t help much, anyway.

Clatrial says she hasn’t slept once since we got here with all the screaming and banging and strange creature sounds. Agnar said his snoring would drown all that out, and she was welcome to try our room sometime. Before she could think of a proper response, I pointed out it was already pretty crowded, and who would he kick out for her? I think it just as well Aliana came into the room at that moment before things got out of hand.

She says Ez is moody about potentially handing the gems over to Alserv. We’ll attack that bridge when we cross it.

****

Today the liaison lady from House Alserv brought us a bag of tokens to allow passage across the bridge (and told us not to open it until she left to avoid rousing suspicion in any onlookers). In return, Ezekiel swore to “bring the stones to Alserv” (he thought long and hard about the exact wording he should commit to, since he said he’ll follow the letter of the contract and no more, with “people of this kind.” So that’s a vote for calling drow people; election’s still contested on minotaurs).

Ez paid our inn bill a few days in advance, and we headed upstairs to prep for action. When he came to his, Aliana’s, and Clatriel’s room, however, the door was cracked open and some drow girl was poking under the mattresses. Raven heard Ez exclaim, and dashed over, and pretty soon, most of us had our heads shoved in the entryway to see what was up.

She wasn’t one of the inn staff, so Raven had her turn out her pockets while I hid behind everyone and switched to the ring of truth.

She had Ezekiel’s writing kit, and a knife of Clatriel’s that folds out a tiny pair of scissors…and also a bundle of letters detailing sordid liaisons between a priestess of Lolth and an assassin for House Alserv. Ezekiel talked with her a bit, and learned her name is K’shetsra, and nobody sent her to our room specifically…she just wanted to make a living.

Naturally, he tried to recruit her (Aliana says she’s half-elf, and Ez has a soft spot for those), and said that if she goes to stay with Telek the mad priest, he has enough food for both of them, and we’ll take them both to the surface when we leave. He kept the bundle of letters but sent her off with the rest of the things that seemed to be hers (a pair of earrings and a switchblade, for instance). I hope nothing bad happens to Telek (whom I have never met).

We double checked the other rooms (glad I keep most of my stuff on me at all times…but the other rooms were untouched) and returned for a final strategy session. Ezekiel and Aliana showed us a little token, like a broach, in the shape of a sword, which I guess will get us across the “Flying Bridge” into the inner sanctum of drowness. The velvet bag also contained tokens of a gold spider, which I guess will get us into the Thane? The Fane? There’s no point hanging around, so we’re leaving now.

Forest arms receive thee.

Find the previous entry here.

Alert: May contain spoilers for the adventure “Descent Into the Depths of the Earth”

Things are beginning to move. A lady showed up in ornate armor, and spoke with Raven and Ezekiel for a while (she paid the Captain to not listen in). Raven says she called the sphere over Istivin a “growth,” and she seemed to find it amusing? when Ez said he wouldn’t mind attacking Lolth. She finally told us to wait while they concocted a plan for us – to get us into the Thane of Lolth to disable the sphere, and restore Alserv’s fortunes (“they” being Eclavdra, who is apparently back and in charge of the house again, even though evidence suggested we killed her in the Fire Giant castle. I guess someone cared enough to spend a wish on her?). Aliana gave the lady quite a withering stare when she kissed Ezekiel, and she left with kind of a smirk.

After lunch, Ezekiel took everyone upstairs to talk strategy. Lydia said she thinks she could teleport a mile away if necessary – the barrier just dampens teleportation – so I gave her the Sword of Lyons. It’s less useful against elf-types, but if we get in a pinch, Lydia’s our best chance to pull off a do-over.

While we were all still talking, a messenger arrived for us from a new player – Oolachrithon the sage. He sent a tablet that basically said we had dealings with him, to allow us to visit his establishment for further details. His messenger (Ezekiel says she was half-drow) led us to his place on the border with the Ghetto of Scholars (I only know because he happened to have a map of Erelhei’Cinlu on his wall, and I did some rough estimating while Ez and Raven were talking with him).

As for the sage, he wasn’t what any of us expected, I think. The door was opened to us by an old man with absolutely nothing behind his eyes. Except that he was breathing, you could hardly tell he was alive. He let us into a study of sorts, with bookshelves lined with books, and sitting at the desk – one of the purple-skinned, tentacle-faced squid-men. I’m not sure, but the fact he shook hands with perfectly normal-shaped hands might make the overall effect worse.

However, he was very polite, and stuck strictly to business. He says he is a “specialist” in demi-human history, theology, and myth. At the moment, he’s very “curious” to learn details about a sacrifice to the Elder Elemental Deity (not just a ritual, but a sacrifice). He is prepared to pay handsomely for information in that regard, however we come upon it.

He even offered some useful information for free. It seems when Eclavdra wanted to be, not just Matriarch of the Alserv, but Queen of the Drow as a whole, the clergy of Lolth opposed her pretty strongly…hence the Alservs’ dalliance with another deity. However, Sage Oolachrithon suspects that a shrine to the EEG was already on the property of the Alserv, thus giving them something to investigate when they wanted a new patron. A lot of this is speculation, of course, but it seems to fit with the rest of our information.

I guess he noticed me examining his map, and seeing as we were newcomers to the city, he gave us a few more useful details. The Noble Houses live on estates on a plateau beyond the city, reached by crossing the “Flying Bridge” over the “Pitchy Flow”…and then the Fane of Lolth is even beyond that. In short, there’s no way outsiders like us are going to get in there without some kind of invitation, so I guess it’s good we got to work on that.

While we work to engraciate ourselves to House Alserv (much as I hate the expression), the sage gave us another lead to pursue. Apparently someone has a scroll reputed to be about the EEG, and would hopefully be willing to sell it. The “someone” is called Pembreg the Fence, a halfling who lives (or at least does business) in the Ghetto of Chattel. The sage gave Ezekiel a token to indicate he has legitimate business in the next ghetto, so we should be able to at least talk to this Pembreg. It would be interesting to see who else is interested in this scroll…I wonder if they also will be working through agents. That is why the sage involved us, after all – because he would have trouble conducting his business personally? And if anything goes wrong – he never met us… They say his kind are at war with the drow…even more than the elves are.

At least it’s good to have another direction to pursue. Ezekiel needed another chat with Raven and Aliana, but when he’s done, we’ll ask the Captain for a guide.

**

This place is practically boiling over with “excitement.” On our way to visit the halfling (with one of the drow kitchen boys leading us), we passed two demons in the street (I didn’t know them by sight, but Ez and Aliana explained afterwards).

One of them looked like a lady of ill repute, slapped on top of a snake body and embellished with extra arms (I think she had six, but I was trying not to look). She tyok one look at Ezekiel, grinned, and reached for some kind of sword at her “waist.”

She didn’t get that far, though, because her companion noticed. He was a man-shape, as tall as a modest hut, with huge bat-wings looming over him from his shoulders (so, different from the giant two-legged bat we saw earlier), and openly carrying a whip and a sword. As soon as the snake-woman made her move, he back-handed her so hard she left a crack in the plaster of the building across the street.

Ezekiel gave some kind of professional nod, and hustled us on, telling everyone to stay calm.

A little further on, the kitchen boy led us through a square of some kind, with a statue in the middle that Ezekiel says is Lolth – a giant spider with a female elf face. It seemed even more crowded than other places, maybe because on one corner, a male drow was standing on some crates and calling out to the crowd milling around.

At first he just said to beware the enemies of Lolth, so I was trying to look small and forgettable as we passed, but then he said something that made us qll turn and look. He mentioned keys – but not keys – jewels, but not jewels…air, earth, fire. Those we definitely knew about, especially after the message Ezekiel received recently. The preacher said something about trapping the “ancient enemy” – “one and three and eight and four” – and he got really upset and wailed about a danger to the “eight-legged mother.”

About that time, a patrol (of lady drow, naturally) made for him, but I guess he used a dimension door or invisibility or something, because he vanished, much to the irritation of the commander. Ezekiel asked some questions, and learned the preacher has been doing this for a few weeks. Gotta check my notes to see how the timeline matches up (if I decide it’s important enough). At the very least, it suggests something Big is going down.

Finally we reached our destination. I wouldn’t have suspected it if we hadn’t engaged a guide…the windows are all boarded up, and the door looks like it used to have one of those top-half windows, but it’s all boarded up now, too. It even seems to have more cobwebs than usual draped all over the building (normal-sized cobwebs, fortunately, but lots of them…I wonder what that suggests about the owner’s loyalties…).

Our guide let us right in, and the door chimed as he opened it, so before long the proprietor came to greet us. The room looks empty and abandoned, but the proprietor obviously keeps busy…his little suit is well-tailoredand embroidered, with decoration all over his jacket and pants. It seems in a place like this, someone called “the Fence” does well for himself.

Ezekiel took him aside and explained our interest in a particular scroll. Master Pembreg said it would be auctioned off in two days’ time, at the Corral Cafe, and we got the kitchen boy to show us where that is, so we can find it on our own when the time comes.

It’s good Ezekiel isn’t as cynical as I am. He asked Master Pembreg if anyone else was interested in the scroll, and when the halfling waited for a bribe before saying anything, and then said, with a sly gleam in his eye, that a group of surfacers was interested, I was feeling put out. But Ezekiel dragged out of him that it wasn’t us, but rather a trio of humans, led by a woman – maybe named Turisk? They have something to do with serving a demon named Grazt, but Ezekiel says much of that is unconfirmed.

When we were done with the boy’s services, he ran back to the inn, and we followed more slowly. I think we were all glad to be off the streets, and after lunch we did some more private comparing of notes. Clatriel says any city that lets filthy undead run around in packs is…well, I’m not sure what all of the words were.

Mikael says we definitely want to kinda if we can get the scroll kinda thing out of the hands of any like bad guy kinda people. That got us talking about what kind of people would want to learn about the EEG anyway, and that made us wonder why Master Oolachrithon wants the scroll. Is it scholarly interest? The Alserv would probably want it for more nefarious reasons.

The human trio with scythes were having dinner in the common room today. Ezekiel squinted at them, and said they didn’t look like demon worshippers. And you’d think in a city like this, they wouldn’t mind showing it.

****

Well…another Alserv lady visited today. You’d think for all her jewelry and the precious metal embroidered on her dress, she could afford more fabric.

Anyway, she took us into a private conference room and shared some information. In the first place, the sphere “growing” over Istivin is not them, but Lolth (which matches what we’ve learned elsewhere). She also said Lolth has done this before, other places…maybe even on other worlds. How did those people stop it? She didn’t get into that…

Her proposal was, in exchange for getting us into Lolth’s domain to “discuss” the sphere with Her, we would bring certain things to Alserv…specifically four gems that “represent” elemental power. Ezekiel immediately spilled almost all we knew about the gems for the nodes (which I guess might lower Alserv’s guard if we freely share information, but it seemed uncautious to me) and the lady said maybe we could ask Lolth where they are during our “conversation.”

Ezekiel seemed leery about bringing the gems, so the lady suggested an exchange that could be just as good, which is for us to kill all the priesthood of Lolth within the Great Thane (I guess it’s like a temple?). She said it was the priesthood that dissed Eclavdra (not necessarily Lolth herself), and by “all” she means hunting down every last one within the temple. That sounds more like how we’re used to operating, and we certainly hold no love for priests of Lolth, but I still don’t like it.

Finally, the lady said that to make the contract good, Ezekiel and Aliana must swear to their God. She understands that that would be a bond she could trust, and she implied her house is risking a lot by letting outsiders into the inner sanctum, as it were.

Ezekiel said we would need to discuss it among ourselves until the day after tomorrow (the day after the auction, so we can try for the scroll as well). He said he will consult his God. And I guess since she was adding elements to the contract, he felt like upping the ante, also…and asked about seeing a “place of power,” maybe, or learning about the rituals the Alserv practice as part of the deal. To which the lady said, if we bring her the gems, we can witness the ritual where they are used…which to me feels like being a sacrificial victim…

We will see. After the lady left, we went to our rooms for more discussion. I don’t like it. Lydia says I don’t like anything. Heiron says he hopes we’re home by winter.

Find the previous entry here.

Alert: May contain spoilers for the adventure “Descent Into the Depths of the Earth”

We have reached the city. The wall is black stone, and at least thirty feet tall, so I wouldn’t be surprised if the cavern is a mile high or more. The gate is bronze, covered with spikes, and decorated (if that’s even the right word) with faces that Ezekiel tells us are kinds of demons, and their rulers.

Guards stood by doors at the far end of the passageway, and we gave their leader our names, and the mercenary cover story. She told us to stay in the Ghetto of Foreigners unless we had express permission from someone to visit another ghetto, and when Ezekiel made noises like a cleric, she mentioned all the temples for “outsider gods” are along the Street of Lies.

Finally, they let us into the city. Erelhei’Cinlu. It’s……..big.

So the first thing that jumps out is that all kinds of people are here…and all kinds of non-people. Humans, trolls, kua’toa…and lots of things that Ezekiel says are from the lower plains. Most of the ghouls and bugbears aren’t wearing green cloaks, but it’s not universal. I think I even saw a lizard-man, in addition to the lizards that they use instead of horses down here. Some richly-dressed drow went charging by on beasts I don’t even know how to describe, and the whole crowd dove left and right to get out of the way. Good thing our group all dove the same direction.

The paint they use for the signs must be mushroom- or mold-based or something, and through the red lenses they almost seem to glow with an inner light. And that’s about the extent of the prettiness in the city. Continue reading →

Alert: May contain spoilers for the adventure “Descent Into the Depths of the Earth”

We reached the Vault of the Drow about midday today (I would guess). I wonder if Tomlin would consider it a sight worth seeing. The entance starts by raising the ceiling, until you feel as though you’re walking through a ravine in some windless, midnight mountains. Then the walls fall away to either hand, and the whole expanse of the plain rolls away into the distance.

Rather than absolutely dark, there are points of light in the ceiling high above us. I suppose they must be crystals like we’ve seen before, but what powerful ones! In the center of the dome lies a purple orb, something like a weak moon, so that we can at least see to walk around, although not much more than that.

Ezekiel put the strange red cups or glasses over his eyes, and they stuck to his face. He says he can see just as far as he could outside, and pointed out a tower like a pillar, directly ahead, even before Aliana did.

I wish I could properly describe the look of this place. There’s lots more important stuff to write about today, but I can’t get over the colors, the feel. It’s like walking on an alien world. Ez passed the glasses around, so we could each take a look. (Heiron remembered I was somewhere, and let me have a turn.) The glasses really do transform the landscape. The colors…the fungi and lichen growing by the road seem to glow, while veins of crystals that weren’t powerful enough to show up in thr dark suddenly gleam with all kinds of colors. No…not all kinds…mostly cool, fungus colors: blue, mauve, purple, sickly green or brown. Some red and gold, but not like a flower-red…like a mold-red.

I can’t quite explain. Maybe it’s because there’s hardly a sound, except the echo of our footfalls. No bugs, no birds, not even the wind stirring leaves. It makes me think of the lady in that play I got to see one festival, the lady who prodded her husband into killing the king. She was so pretty…but after that scene, you couldn’t get out of your mind what she had done, the blood on her hands. (Clarence had nightmares after that play.)

Anyway, it’s quite the sight to see. Any other place, I’d say it was worth the trip. Continue reading →

Alert: May contain spoilers for the adventure “Descent Into the Depths of the Earth”

We stayed at this campsite for a couple days so Master Oaklock could practice a technique with Heiron. I think they both enjoyed thinking about “normal” things for a bit. Heiron’s come a long way since we’ve known him.

Unfortunately, there’s bad news, too. Ezekiel asked Lydia to teleport back to Haven with a note (perhaps something to do with the node-gems, but he didn’t say so). She meditated for a moment, and told us that there’s some kind of arcane interference that won’t let her through. It’s hard to say if this place is shielded, like the dragon’s lair was shielded from scrying, or if we’re just too far underground for it to work. Lydia says the distance shouldn’t make a difference, since after all you can teleport between different planes of existence. Ezekiel took the opportunity to curse the demons who made him vulnerable to clerical magic…I think mostly out of professional courtesy. Master Oaklock asked Lydia to explain some things in more detail, and they spent quite a lot of time muttering in the corner, and borrowed one of my spare journals.

****

We came across a pit with two bodies in it. Raven agrees with me that there was probably a loose cover over the pit at one time. The bodies were a human and a drow – the human wearing a cloak of the exact same bright green that we saw among the property of the squid-men.

Ezekiel asked Raven to climb into the pit to check things out, and he told us the two had been garrotted (within the last couple days), and plundered of their weapons, jewelry, and belts. By the number and size of footprints, it was a huge band of small, bipedal creatures. While I was scanning the surroundings for any such creatures, Ezekiel leaned over and raised the human to life. Continue reading →

Alert: May contain spoilers for the adventure “Descent Into the Depths of the Earth”

We passed through an enormous cave, where we caught glimpses of windows and doorways opening off of ledges high above our heads. There must have been ramps or stairs somewhere…unless drow can fly, on top of everything else. On the cavern floor, on our level, we passed a half-dozen lizards – the size of horses, with tethers of their heads, and some kind of tackle lying beside them. They were eating fungus, so I guess some creatures find it palatable. Mikael wanted to make friends with them, but we didn’t want their owners mad at us, so we pursuaded him to move along.

I think Lydia is also homesick for some real food (though Ezekiel points out we’ve only been down here a few days). Rations are all fine and good (and Raven cooks them fantastically), but she was waving her fingers over her food to alter the taste or something (I didn’t know that was a thing). Raven tried some, and told us not to bother.

****

The path ran down into water today. Fortunately, before we examined it for long, a fish man came flapping out of the darkness toward us. Imagine a fish body dropped onto skinny little frog legs, with little flappy arms. Happily, it was much smaller than the slime trail we crossed yesterday, so we didn’t mistake it for an abalath. Continue reading →

Alert: May contain spoilers for the adventure “Descent into the Depths of the Earth”

We walked all day with Driptz.

He sticks to the back, where the light isn’t so intense, even though Raven made him goggles out of some cloth. I think there’s more than one reason our kinds don’t typically get along too well.

The way is treacherous, sometimes cut by two foot terraces or steps, sometimes slicked with slime or something worse. We came across the corpse of something humanoid, but it’s hard to tell what because the skin is totally transparent. Mr. Drippy says an “abalath” can do that – they’re a fish with tentacles that change skin to be breathable underwater. Apparently that’s not so great if you’re above water. He says they can also mind-control you, and unlike normal fish they can slide around out of the water. Sure enough, a few yards from the corpse we found a slime trail wider than I am tall, crossing our path to duck into a side crevice. Drippy led the way in wiping the slime off his shoes after we crossed it. I have no more words for the creatures down here…the crazy crypto-zoology of the underworld. Continue reading →